Thursday, January 31, 2013

For those stuck on the bizarre idea that Obama won because of ideology instead of poor GOP infrastructure, here's an article you need to read.

I remained convinced the "Extreme Party Makeover" is not a reality show then GOP needs, or wants.

I have and continue to insist that changing the messaging, philosophies and platforms are not the FIRST thing that needs to be done... but instead, it should be the LAST.

I've proffered but a start of the changes in the mechanism of how the GOP needs to campaign to reflect the changing technology and to start the process of inroading minority populations:

1. Fund and hire a full time minority outreach shop.

We have to admit that the white majority will soon
become the white numerical minority. This is obvious. Yet, what does
the GOP do to court the minority vote?
Nothing.

If
the GOP is going to convince the minorities, even those with a natural
affinities such as the hispanic voter. And given the large numbers of
illegals voting in this state, at least some full time effort should be,
for example, aimed in that direction.

2. Identify candidates around the state for grooming as a wide bench.

It's
unfortunate that we could only put forward a weak candidate like RINO
Rob. How he ever won, given his utterly abysmal campaign this time
around, is the political mystery of the decade.

For the mainstreamers, unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else. And how'd that work out for us?

We
need to be looking at evaluating candidates at the city council/School
board level. The GOP needs to provide guidance to help them grow in a
real world political environment so we don't find ourselves filing
candidates as nothing more than road bumps.

3. Understand and use social media/internet research.

Come on, guys. I shouldn't even have to talk about this.

The
GOP should be building a live, on line database of every democrat screw
up so it's right there. This would be an invaluable tool for
legislative and statewide races. Traffic could be driven there with
every announcement.... every press release. The technology is there:
all it takes is the money and the bodies to make it happen.

Every
democrat candidate should undergo a deep background investigation. If
you know your enemy, then you'll know his/her weaknesses.

Every district's tendencies should be identified and all messages tailored to impact.

This isn't brain surgery.

As I pointed out, without improving the ground game to at least as good as the left's, changes in policy, philosophies and the self-destructive tendency to want to be democrat-lite (As best illustrated by the RINO destruction here in the Washington state-wides) will be meaningless if the GOP doesn't have the right hardware, the right -sized nuts and bolts properly placed to make the machine work.

Well, here's a fascinating, in-depth analysis that goes precisely to the heart of the matter.

GOP'ers should read and heed. Because if they don't, it doesn't matter who they run.

Thu Jan 31, 2013 at 02:20:49 AM EST

Very good stuff. On our side these guys are disproportionately in the "Lberty Movement" - promoted by Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno)

This post is about technology, but is written for a non-technical audience.

You may think you know what happened with the technology of the Obama and Romney campaigns because of what you read about Orca. You don't know. This article is incredibly long. It will be worth it, and you will never look at technology and politics in the same way. If someone knows where to post or put this so that the RNC sees it, please do so. I am designating this content under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. Distribute freely with attribution. * /

"We must develop the best technology with the help of the best minds." - GOP Chairman Reince Priebus, in a speech in January 2013, after being re-elected.

Yes, Mr. Priebus, we must, because in 2012, Team Obama kicked our asses in ways that you don't understand. The Democrats have created a whole ecosystem of technology and people that we don't have. It will be nearly impossible to catch up. This article will explain why, and offer some advice. But you're going to have to be bold. Or we are going to lose in 2016.

This article will attempt to answer the following questions:

- What role did technology play in the 2012 presidential election?
- How did Obama and Romney spend their money?
- What were the differences in their approaches?
- How did their spending and approaches affect what they were able to do?
- How far ahead are the Democrats in technology?
- Will this technology trickle down?

Lessons Learned

- What are the big lessons?
- Can Republicans catch up? (Read more...)

This article is based on many public sources and several private ones with strong connections to the people who have built campaign technology for President Obama over the past several years. Fortunately, most of the useful information is public, thanks to Engage, TechPresident and Ars Technica. Links to all their great work is at the bottom of this article. (I don't know a single technology person in the Romney campaign and they have revealed little about their operations. But I can tell much of what happened by the public information and the spending reports. I also, as a Romney supporter, used a lot of their public-facing tools.)

INTRODUCTION: BACK TO 2008

I remember the 2008 campaign between then-Senators Obama and John McCain. In my professional world, we were all buzzing about what technologies would be used, as this appeared to be the first big election where Internet technology would finally play a major role. I had a few friends who were working (though Blue State Digital) for Senator Obama. I knew no one who worked for Senator McCain.

At the time, web technology was aimed at making a better website, offer some organizing tools, do some analytics, and spreading the word though email and social media channels. There was talk about radical changes to GOTV, but that was a ways off. It was still the "digital" side of the campaign, and new technology didn't flow through the entire campaign operation at that time.

The first thing I noticed was a difference in technology and resources. First, the McCain campaign only had a small number of people on the digital side (perhaps a dozen). The Obama campaign had many more people involved (close to 100). That's the part people remember. But there was another thing that only we technology folks would notice: different kinds of software. McCain's main website and tools were built on a kind of Microsoft technology that you would see from a medium-sized bank. Obama's tools were simple but flexible "open source" components that were part of a worldwide network of interesting and innovative products.

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